Course Length: Year

Open to Grades: 6

Prerequisites: REQUIRED
Estimated hours of homework per class period:  15 minutes

In our Humanities 6 class, students will explore the theme of community as they develop their study skills in a supportive class environment. They will learn about the lifestyle, tradition, and culture of people in early civilizations and connect it to the samples of literature we read in class. We will cover the growth of early humans, settlements in Mesopotamia, the rise of Egypt, advancements in China, the culture of India, and the growth and challenges of democracy in ancient Greece. These units will emphasize the actions of people in a community, the growth of culture, traditions, and technology, and the impacts of decisions reached by leadership in different time periods and places. Our main units are connected to a sample of literature students will read, discuss, and analyze. To develop their writing skills, students will work on different samples of descriptive, expository, persuasive, and narrative assignments. Throughout the year, students will craft paragraphs, personal responses, and short essays related to these goals of writing. They will learn to communicate ideas clearly in partner shares, class discussions, and short presentations to the class. Students will use our textbook as a research tool, take notes from a variety of sources, and create digital projects to become more fluent in their tech skills on our Chromebooks. In class, students will design projects in cooperative groups, and learn to improve their range of study skills from guided teacher instruction. Hands-on projects for each main unit of study will emphasize their communication, collaboration, creativity, resilience, and critical thinking skills.

Course Length: Year

Open to Grades: 7

Prerequisites: English 6, History 6
Estimated hours of homework per class period: 15 minutes

Humanities 7 develops students’ reading and writing foundations while introducing them to broader questions about literature, history, and themselves. Our overarching theme of connection challenges students to make connections between the present and the past, consider multiple perspectives, and study the middle ages as a period of increasing interconnectedness. We return again and again to critical reading skills like monitoring understanding, annotating, and supporting claims with evidence. Students also deepen their understanding of theme, symbolism, and other techniques authors use to build layers of meaning in a text. In writing, instruction emphasizes process--brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing--as the key to writing with clarity and style across genres. Analytical, evidence-based writing is a major focus of seventh-grade humanities, though students also write narratives and poetry. The history curriculum supports students’ nonfiction reading and critical thinking skills. Using a textbook, primary source documents, and articles, students will investigate how people around the world lived during the middle ages. The history topics wrap up where the 8th-grade American history curriculum begins, with a study of the Columbian Exchange, the Atlantic slave trade, and slavery’s lasting impact in America.

Course Length: Year

Open to Grades: 8

Prerequisites: Humanities 6 & 7
Estimated hours of homework per class period:  20 minutes

Humanities 8 covers history and English curriculum in an interdisciplinary fashion, using class meetings to blend the skills of reading, writing, and the analysis of ideas. The course includes studies in literature, US history, grammar, and writing. Thoughtful discussions are a critical component of the course. Students will gain skills in close reading, analysis, research, public speaking, and writing through homework, quizzes, tests, essays, creative writing, and individual and group projects. The year-long theme of the course is Civil and Human Rights. This theme will be the driving force behind our exploration of Native American history, The American Revolution and Constitution, slavery and the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement, and modern American democracy. The novels that are covered in class always intertwine thematic elements of this history with the art of fiction. This curriculum also dives into a multi-media format by researching and analyzing podcasts, documentaries, and speeches about the subjects at hand.

Course Description:

“Stories are a communal currency for humanity.”- Tahir Shah. Stories are, and always have been, how we learn about ourselves and others. Our histories, cultures, ideas, triumphs, and meaningful failures are all passed down and through our stories. How we hear and tell those stories is an art that truly benefits humanity. In this course, we will explore the different ways we hear and share stories. We will take walks around campus while listening to podcasts, we will go outside and read short stories, and we will watch films that visually create worthy tales. We will also craft our own stories and learn how to best share them through creative writing and in person story telling. In doing so, we will gain an appreciation for the inherent value of stories and a better understanding of how to absorb and share them.